On June 24, the European Commission announced the publication of a study by the Joint Research Centre assessing differences in the composition of EU food products.

Last year, the Market
Advisory Council contributed to the discussion with an opinion on a potential
unfair trading practice in relation to canned tuna products marketed with
different brands.

Main
findings:

The study
assessed 1.380 samples of 128 different food products from 19 Member States.
The study found that:

In the majority of cases, the composition
matched the way products were presented: 23% of products had an identical
front-of-pack and an identical composition, and 27% of products signalled
their different composition in different EU countries with a different
front-of-pack.

9% of products presented as being the same
across the EU had a different composition: they had an identical front-of-pack,
but a different composition.

A further 22% of products presented in a
similar way had a different composition: they had a similar front-of-pack, yet a
different composition.

There is no consistent geographical pattern in the use of the same or
similar packaging for products with different compositions. Moreover, the difference
in the composition found in the products tested does not necessarily
constitute a difference in product quality.

Next steps:

The European Commission launched a new call
for proposals with a total budget of €1.26 million to strengthen consumer
organisations’ capacities to test products and identify potentially misleading
practices. The deadline for applications is 6 November 2019.